Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

In terms of week-after-week consistency, Bunny Lake stands out as one of the grandest of all distaff pacers.

After five grueling war years on the track, this daughter of Precious Bunny amassed 47 wins in 93 starts and tacked on 20 seconds and 14 thirds, good for more than $2.8 million…racing against the greatest fillies and mares each new crop had to offer.

She won on all size tracks—half milers, 5/8ths, 7/8ths and mile—and graced the winner’s circle at 14 tracks from Delaware, Ohio west to Vernon Downs and beyond and The Red Mile north to Woodbine.

A $37,000 yearling, Bunny Lake’s racing career began as the 20th century closed and she scored eight wins in 12 starts, good for $281,255. Her mark was a juvenile was 1:54 in a wire-to-wire win at The Syracuse Mile in Sire Stakes action.

As the new century began, Bunny Lake had her breakthrough year…scoring 19 wins in 21 starts, earning $1,146,219 and being voted Horse of the Year.

In that year—2001—Bunny Lake started with a win and a pair of seconds (one of these a dead heat for place) and then reeled off almost five months of straight wins—18 in all—including wins in the $400,000 Mistletoe Shalee at The Big M on August 4 and the $812,292 Breeders Crown at Woodbine on Oct 19.

Her mark, incidentally, was 1:51 in the warm-up for the Crown six days before when she jetted out of the nine hole and paced an opening quarter in :25.4 before romping home in :26.4 to seal that deal.

In 2002, at age four, Bunny Lake won an octet of races and $400,049 and earned her first sub-1:50 performance—a 1:49.4 mile at The Meadowlands.

At five, racing in a year featuring great mares like, alphabetically, Artistic Vision, Carolina Sunshine, Eternal Camnation, Molly Can Do It and Worldly Beauty, the “Bunny” was quick enough to win 10 times in 24 starts and, with five seconds and a like number of thirds, earned $531,134.

One of the highlights of that year was a match race between Bunny Lake and Worldly Beauty at The Meadowlands. Rated splendidly by trainer-driver John Stark, Jr., Bunny Lake thwarted Worldly Beauty’s early bid with a :27.2 opener, dawdled through the next half in 1:01 and then exploded home in :26 to score the narrow win over her arch rival in 1:54.2.

Bunny Lake’s final year at the races was in 2004, with Animated Art, Burning Point, Loyal Opposition and Sure Sign joining the female fray.

Still, she banked another $484,819 based on a 4-5-2 scorecard in 17 starts. Her highlights were back-to-back 1:49 wins in the Roses Are Red series at Woodbine. Her final trip to the winner’s circle came in the $289,905 final where she carved unbelievable fractions of :25.2 and :52.3 before gutting home in :27.

Bunny Lake's Racing Career Statistics
Year Starts/1st/2nd/3rd Earnings      Record        Venue & Date of Record
2004     17      4     5     2      $484,819       6, 1:49.0S      Wdb 08/27/2004
2003     24    10   5    5      $531,134       5, 1:50.3S      Wdb 08/16/2003
2002     19    6    6     5      $400,049      4, 1:49.4M      M 07/13/2002
2001     21     19   2    0      $1,146,219    3, 1:51.0S      Wdb 10/13/2001
2000     12     8    2    2     $281,255       2, 1:54.0M      Sycs 08/11/2000
Total    93    47   20 14    $2,843,476    6, 1:49.0S